A DRUG dealer who peddled heroin to fund his own desperate habit has turned his life around – thanks to the judge who kept him out of jail.

Stuart Abercrombie, aged 41, of Walsall, fully expected to be handed a three-year prison sentence when he pleaded guilty at Wolverhampton Court two years ago to dealing the class A drug.Instead Judge Martin Walsh gave the father-of-three a chance to redeem himself and offered to take a special interest in his rehabilitation.

In the past two years, the pair have met around once a month and Stuart says the relationship has helped him beat his ten-year addiction.

“It feels really good to be able to talk face-to-face to a judge instead of listening to one in the dock,” said Stuart, a former pupil at Willingsworth High School, Tipton.

“It’s really made me open my eyes.

“I think if a lot more judges took this approach the results would be astounding.

“The fact that he believes in me really keeps me going and gives me that extra motivation to change. He’s given me a chance and I don’t want to let him down.”

As well as seeing Judge Walsh, Stuart attends a drug rehabilitation and substance abuse programme to try and understand his addiction.

The qualified electrician started smoking cannabis in his twenties following the collapse of his marriage. After he tried to commit suicide he lost joint custody of his children and that’s when his weed habit spiralled.

He turned to heroin as a cheaper alternative and at first managed to keep it under control. But within eight years, he was heavily in debt as he tried desperately to fund the £120-a-day habit.

Thanks to the relationship with the judge and the programme – which is run by the Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Service and consists of 26 group sessions – Stuart is now clean and enjoying life as a house husband, looking after his three stepchildren.

He has become so passionate about the rehabilitation course that he’s agreed to work with the probation service to develop their other addiction programmes.

“I hope I’m making Judge Walsh proud,” he said. “And I hope my story can help anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation.

“Heroin is like a marriage. It’s the first thing you think about when you wake up every morning – it’s your main goal every day but my life has changed now. Things are so much better. I think I can stay off heroin now. A year ago, I could never have said that,” he added.